Last week, an interprofessional hands-on training session for rehabilitation professionals took place in Uganda, focusing on enhancing patient care following stroke, through knowledge exchange and skill development.
The ReLAB-HS clinical skills training programme, conducted collaboratively with the rehabilitation professional associations in Uganda, is a hybrid learning experience that aims to offer high-level rehabilitation training. This session, held in-person, followed the online Stroke and Assistive Technology courses on Physiopedia Plus that were completed by participants. After grasping the theoretical aspects of evaluating and managing stroke patients, along with planning treatments and providing assistive technology devices, the in-person training provided the opportunity to discuss and improve the technical and practical skills needed for patient care.
Hosted at the Stroke Rehabilitation Centre in Kampala, the session included 15 professionals from diverse backgrounds including orthopedic technologists, occupational therapists (OT), physiotherapists (PT), and speech and language therapists. The session was guided by local experts and facilitated by Physiopedia team members Angela Patterson (OT), Herbert Omoding (PT), and Martina Lukin (Prosthetist and Orthotist).
“This was a very good initiative for the rehabilitation professionals to come together in one room to share their expertise in managing patients.”
The diverse range of rehabilitation professions at the training led to engaging discussions that helped everyone’s learning and allowed them to address challenges in providing interdisciplinary care for patients. The enthusiastic participants wanted to keep talking and working together, so they joined a specific group on the Rehabilitation Community platform. This group provides a network for future brainstorming and problem-solving.
This in-person gathering served as a critical component of the hybrid clinical skills training, providing a unique occasion for meaningful interaction and knowledge sharing among Ugandan rehabilitation professionals, regardless of their practice settings or geographic locations.
